Overview of Photography Collage Project

Description of Project

The object of this photography collage project was to learn how to convey space and time in a different form. The first thing that we did was research on different artist who collage pictures and all of the different types of way there are to go about your project. Next we came up with four ideas that either showed time, space, or depth of a person or place all with a concept statement for each. After coming up with these four ideas we presented them to the class and came up with four test collages for each. After looking at them another time in class we narrowed it down to the best two ideas and constructed an even bigger test collage. We did a final presentation to our class of our two ideas and picked our final focus for our project. After picking the final collage and going back again to take around seventy-five more pictures we then and printed them out. By making a test collage in photoshop with the seventy-five photographs I was then able to figure out what pictures I needed and where they would be placed in the collage. The next step was to mount them on a foam core board to be able to present with our final concept statement. 

Summary 

      This project was a lot harder for me to grasp then I originally thought. Trying to figure out how to capture something or someone that is moving and then try and put the pictures together to show this movement was very challenging. I realized that my brain has a hard time trying to grasp that concept of taking pictures and putting them together with a large number of pictures. Something else that I learned from this project was that coming up with good concept statements and ideas are a lot harder then you think. I learned that I need to start off with one idea and keep expanding on it to make it better and not all at the end. Overall this was a very challenging project but I have taken away very positive outcomes and lessons from it.

     First we picked four concept ideas for the photography collage. After taking a few pictures of the site and writing a concept statement to go with each one we presented it to the class. Next we took our feedback and made small initial collages for the four concept ideas or your new ideas. After talking about them in class we narrowed down our ideas to two concepts. With these two concepts we made even bigger collages and brought them into class to critique and pick our final concept idea. Once the final idea was chosen I went back to take more pictures to use and make a collage in Photoshop which I then got all of the pictures printed. After setting up the pictures on a black foam core board I then mounted them to it to get the finished product.

Errol Morris Video Summary

Photographs are connected to the physical world. It is a true investigation into the world in which the photograph was taken. "Vally of the shadow of death”- barren landscape covered with cannon balls. You don’t know which one came before the other, the cannon balls or the trench. Did he pose the pictures.? What makes an honest and truthful photograph? They shouldn’t be posed and only observe from a distance… They are neither true no false. The pictures are vested in language. They are all somewhat posed in some way. You can never see the absence of something in the photograph. You don’t see everything around it just the picture no the before or after or even what is right or left. You have to investigate to find out. if you want to understand you have to look at little details to find the larger questions. They become iconic bc they have a power over us and a power that takes us in. They have taken on meaning to people. I completely agree on the statement that pictures take on different meaning to different people. I personally have a stronger connection to some pictures more then others. As for the statement that everything is posed I do agree with that because a person looks at the view of the shot that they are taking and finds the best angle which is the same thing as posing a shot. 

On Photography Summary

Ever since 1939 when the creation of photography was invented the human race has been using it non stop. Photographs surround our world everywhere we go and every time we think. It helps give out information and communicated different things to people everywhere. To photograph something it helps put you into power of capturing an image or a moment in time. You have to be able to give that moment justice and capture it just right so that it can be remembered. It is different then just writing about something because one must be able to imagine and come up with it in their head. By being able to have a picture they have the ability to see what it actually looks like and keep that image in their brain. We take pictures to remember. It could be a memory, a person, or even a feeling that you had at the time. Photography is all about the connections that either the photographer has with the picture or that the viewer gets from the picture. 

Photography Changes Everything

Photography can have so many different meanings. It can tell so many different stories and symbolize so many different things. It is not just one still picture. It is a moment captured in time that will always be there for one to remember. Taking photographs is like a second nature to people no a days. It is so easy to capture things with our phones so that we can keep a little piece of that moment forever. Photography changes what we want by pictures of things that a person has a desire for. Weather it be beauty, an object, or even happiness. Photography also changes what we see. Photography shows was our human eyes can not see on their own. It also changes who we are in a way. We choose to group ourselves with different ideas and concepts that all go back to other examples or stereotypes that we have seen pictures of. Photography has an influence on what we do and what we plan on doing. When looking at pictures from around the world that influences our choices on where we would like to go or travel to see in the future. Photography also changes what we remember. With the visual aid of photography we are able to see and image and remember it wether it be a memory or a picture of a specific building for a test. With out photography we would be living in a different world. People wouldn’t know what other animals looked like from other countries or even what other countries looked like unless they saw them with their own eyes. Photography really is an amazing creation and we should not take it for granted.  

Ways of Seeing Video

Seeing something without having to be there. The camera is like an eye. Now things can be seen in a million different places at different times. the images come to you. Thinks like original paints still have their own look but reproductions distort somewhat. When you are zooming into a picture you can change the meaning of the painting. Even showing different types of movement of showing off the picture can change the composition of the picture or painting. The meaning of the image can be changed with what surrounds it or what you see after it. I am not sure I would suggest to watch this move to anyone else. I did get what they were saying in the movie but it was ver outdated. Thinking about it now I do get what they were saying about how zooming up on pictures can change the whole composition of the poster. People relate what they see in pictures to what they see in their own lives. Basically the overview of the movie was that context means everything. 

Masters of Illusion Video

In the video they talked about how you make a flat picture 3D. They say how it is just like renaissance artist trying to figure out perspective and how linear perspective was created. It all goes back to recede to the vanishing point. All artist in the past were very close but none ever fully captured the concept.  Linear perspective makes lines into a structure with convincing depth. The first painting to have true linear perspective looked as if a new room was created. Word in sculptures as well showed a feeling of vast space. The inlay wood veneer to make it look in perspective was first made in Italy. It had systematic perspective that helped create greater depth to paintings and multiple point perspectives. Leonardo Da Vinci found that light enters the eye and light is how it falls on and create form. Reflected light make it look more real and demential. We learned that as distance increases the background turns more blue which is called atmospheric perspective. The less contrast it becomes as it recedes. Anamorphic art is stretched

when viewed from an extreme angle it takes on a new appearance. The point of view makes the view sit at the viewer of the subjects feet. It also pushes the viewer to become closer then they want to be to feel the death. Most of this information I had already known but it was a good refresher to look at before starting to take pictures for the photography project. Learning about how the first wood veneer perspective was made really interested me and made me want to learn more about it or possibly see it in the future.   

A viewers guid to looking at Photos summary

The goal that one must have for analyzing photos would be to understand them and gain insight from them. Take the time, appreciate them, keep out all prejudices.There are 4 steps to analyzing the first is description. Describe everything as neutrally as possible and keep opinions out. Make sure you don’t miss part of the picture! Also make sure you get the details what forms and lines are in the picture, color structure, relationship that things have in the picture with each other, shape of the photo, texture, perspective, motion, mood, space, lights and shadows, quality of edges, time, quality of photo, and harmonious color. Ask yourself what way your eye travels through the photo? the next step is formal analysis. Still without passing any judgments have a interpretive tying together of these facts: geometric shapes, parallels or repetition, theme, contrast, over all composition and balance. The third step is to put the photograph into interpretation. Making no judgments but asking the question “why”. Look at symbols, straight forward, trying to say something specific, feelings involved, what does the photo remind you of, what is the picture really about, is it important because of the subject or the treatment of the subject, what is the photographers statement to the relationship of the photo. Lastly in the evaluation ask yourself what standards should it be evaluated, is the most important at the top and not important at the bottom, how original is the statement. If the following questions can be answered about the photo it will be enhanced: do other photos from this person have the same theme, quality, history, or position? This guide to looking at photography has some very good points. Descriptions to pictures are always required so that the viewer will be able to understand the picture and pick out the small details with the aid of the description. When they say not to pass any judgments in the formal analysis and in the interpretations I highly agree with that because a person should keep an open mind when first looking at a work of art. Take the facts and why and how it makes you feel and then when you evaluate the picture at the end you are able to form an opinion with the art work.